2009-11-06T17:22:28+00:00 ExpressionEngine Copyright (c) 2009, IPA tag:ouradio.org,2009:/33.60495 2009-11-06T14:59:27+00:00 2009-11-06T17:22:28+00:00

Orthodox Jewish voters are the shifting middle of American Jewish politics, and they helped winning candidates in several key contests in 2009.

2009-11-06T14:59:27+00:00 Orthodox Jews are the long suffering swing voters of the Jewish world, preferring to vote on issues rather than parties. Thus, the majority of Orthodox Jews voted for Gore-Lieberman in 2000 but switched decidedly to Bush-Cheney in '04.

This time around, heavily Orthodox areas in New York and New Jersey also made news. In Nassau County, where Democratic County Executive Tom Suozzi hangs on to a few hundred vote lead, the local county legislature flipped from Democratic to Republican control, all because in the heavily Orthodox Five Towns area, Howard Kopel of Lawrence unseated the five-term Democratic incumbent, Jeffrey Toback by more than 1,100 votes (h/t the Jewish Star on the numbers).

In the City itself, in what was a surprisingly much closer race than everyone predicted, heavily Orthodox areas like the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Forest Hills and Rego Park in Queens and Borough Park and Williamsburg went overwhelmingly for Mayor Bloomberg, helping put him back for a third term - 20,642 to 8,307 (UWS), 15,309 to 5,173 (Forest Hills/Rego Park) & by an eye-popping 13,587 to 3,907 in Borough Park (h/t Hamodia for the numbers).

In New Jersey, challenger, and now Governor-elect, Chris Christie won every district in Lakewood save one (h/t Lakewood Scoop). As well, while hometown pride may have given the Democratic ticket the edge in Teaneck (8,784 for Corzine-Weinberg; 3,197 to Christie-Guadagno), as it is from where the Lt. Governor nominee, Senator Loretta Weinberg hails, the heavily Orthodox areas of town gave Christie most of his votes there - some 2/3 of his township tally - totaling 2,210 votes for the winner.


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]]> tag:ouradio.org,2009:/33.60457 2009-11-05T14:13:05+00:00 2009-11-05T15:27:06+00:00

2009-11-05T14:13:05+00:00 During the House floor debate on H. Res. 867, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer delivered a passionate speech in support of the Resolution, condemning the Goldstone Report’s one-sided presentation of Operation Cast Lead.

We thank the Majority Leader for his conviction in standing against international bias against Israel.

Click here to read Rep. Hoyer's comments, and click here to watch the Majority Leader's speech (starting from 280:04).


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]]> tag:ouradio.org,2009:/33.60421 2009-11-03T21:25:38+00:00 2009-11-03T22:43:39+00:00

Today, the Orthodox Union applauded the swift passage of H. Res. 867, a resolution condemning the UN Goldstone Report on Israeli military action in Gaza, by a 344-36 vote in the House of Representatives. The Resolution won bipartisan support.

2009-11-03T21:25:38+00:00 Today, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (the “Orthodox Union”) applauded the swift passage of H.Res. 867, a resolution condemning the UN Goldstone Report on Israeli military action in Gaza. The Resolution passed by a 344-36 vote in the House.

The legislation, introduced by Reps. Howard Berman, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Gary Ackerman and Dan Burton, deemed the Goldstone Report “irredeemably biased” and called on President Obama to oppose unequivocally any endorsement or further consideration of the Report.

The Resolution won bipartisan support.

Nathan J. Diament, OU Director of Public Policy, stated:

The Orthodox Union commends the timely passage of this legislation and thanks Reps. Berman, Ros-Lehtinen, Ackerman and Burton for their leadership in sponsoring this Resolution. The importance of continued Congressional recognition and condemnation of international bias against Israel cannot be understated, and we applaud today’s effort toward that goal. We ask for swift passage by the Senate.


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2009-11-03T19:02:27+00:00 Today, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, applauded the United States Senate for the introduction of the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act of 2009.

Since 1967, Jerusalem has been the united capital city of Israel, yet the United States has failed to recognize it as such. The United States maintains its embassy in the functioning capital of every country with which it has diplomatic relations. Israel has remained the exception to this rule. The Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act of 2009 calls for the State Department to move the American Embassy from its current location in Tel-Aviv to its rightful place in Jerusalem. The legislation will also remove the Presidential waiver from the Jerusalem Embassy Law (Public Law 104-45) enacted in 1995.

The Orthodox Union would like to extend special gratitude to Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas for his continued leadership on this issue and for his chief sponsorship of the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act. The Orthodox Union also wishes to thank the original co-sponsors of this important piece of legislation including, Senators Cornyn, Inhofe and Kyl.

Nathan J. Diament, director of the Union's Institute for Public Policy stated:

It is time to move the US embassy in Israel to its rightful place in Jerusalem. Just as the United States locates its embassy in the duly designated capitals of other nations, so too it should locate its embassy in Israel's recognized capital.


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]]> tag:ouradio.org,2009:/33.60369 2009-11-02T14:01:25+00:00 2009-11-02T15:08:26+00:00

2009-11-02T14:01:25+00:00 One week before President Obama will place himself again under the Jewish community microscope with an address to the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America, one has to wonder…

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went to Israel and praised Prime Minister Netayanhu’s “unprecedented” offers with regard to slowing Israeli settlement growth for which she receives the appreciation of AIPAC

The Palestinians complain and so Clinton backpedals...

How is this constructive?


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Orthodox Union sends out Get Out the Vote flyers and more to all OU member synagogues in NYC, NJ and VA before the all important mayoral and gubernatorial elections where the Jewish vote may well make the difference in close races.

2009-10-30T16:13:18+00:00 counts the votes that counts. But given the closeness of two of three signature races this Tuesday - the NYC mayoral (recent - admittedly partisan - polling suggests it could be within 5 points) and the NJ gubernatorial, where the latest FDU poll has it within 1 point - suggests otherwise.

It goes without saying that throughout history, Jews have been denied rights (including the most basic and foundational right of all, the right to vote) and we know that many, including the great sage, teacher and leader of Orthodoxy in the last century, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, zt"l, declared voting in elections was an issue of hakrat hatov, or gratitude to (and for) a land like America where our freedoms are guaranteed by force of law in courts of law and are defended by an honest police force and an honorable military. It's worth taking a moment to reflect that there are still places in our world today where religious minorities aren't fully free. Voting will help those in need in our own community here at home but it also helps others (Jew and gentile) around the world.

Whether you vote for the winner or loser in Tuesday's election, what matters most is that you vote. On issues of importance to the Orthodox community: constitutionally permissible aid to day schools/yeshivas and to tuition paying parents; on the ever present needs of protecting our shuls and schools and those who pray and study there from crime and from terror; and on other vital issues of the day, what is crucial is that our community votes.

And while it's always nice to pick a winner, what is more vital in ensuring that a community's concerns are taken seriously is not that they voted for the winner but that they voted, period. That was the gist of the OU's voter outreach efforts this year in these three races. As a nonprofit, we can't endorse. But the reality is, we don't need to.

To see the OU's advertisement on voting, click here. And please, this Tuesday, vote your conscience.
]]> tag:ouradio.org,2009:/33.60326 2009-10-30T13:48:01+00:00 2009-10-30T14:58:02+00:00

The Orthodox Union commends the introduction of H.Res. 687, a resolution that calls on President Obama to oppose unequivocally any endorsement or further consideration of the Goldstone Report, and urges House members to join in cosponsorship of this important resolution.

2009-10-30T13:48:01+00:00 The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, applauds the recent introduction of H.Res. 867, a resolution that calls on President Obama to oppose unequivocally any endorsement or further consideration of the Goldstone Report. The Resolution roundly condemns the Goldstone Report, asserts Israel’s right to defend itself, and reaffirms United States support for Israel. H.Res. 867 was introduced by Reps. Gary Ackerman, Howard Berman, Dan Burton and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen following the United Nations Human Rights Council’s vote to endorse the Report, and currently has 114 cosponsors in the House.

Nathan J. Diament, the Orthodox Union’s director of public policy, stated:

We commend Reps. Ackerman, Berman, Burton and Ros-Lehtinen for sponsoring this legislation. We thank those legislators who stand firm on Israel’s right to defend itself and correctly recognize this Report as biased. We urge House members to join in cosponsorship of this important resolution and ask that it be brought swiftly to the House floor for a vote.

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J Street & Its Fellow Travelers

2009-10-29T15:16:44+00:00 J Street & Its Fellow Travelers

To much media hoopla, the J Street organization’s conference has come and gone and we have but one point to raise for folks to consider.

In advance of the conference, J Street’s leader, Jeremy Ben Ami, laid out his views on the key issues of the day to The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg.Ron Kampeas rounded up the resulting criticism of Ben Ami in the left-wing blogosphere which foreshadowed the incidents of conference attendees booing Rabbi Eric Yoffie and panelist Matt Yglesias being surprised to see that there were conference attendees who did not wish to be associated with being “pro-Israel.”

The commentators on the Bible teach that in the exodus from Egypt, with Pharoh’s empire in ruins, many non-Jews traveled out with Moses and “the winning team.” They are known as the “erev rav” - literally a “mixed multitude.” The sages ascribe to these “fellow travelers” the cause for many of the sins of the Jews (most notably constructing the golden calf) as they traveled through the desert to the land of Israel.

Many commentators, not necessarily hostile to J Street, have noted that J Street’s leadership has sent mixed messages about its commitments and positions. Having put themselves on the map, they now must make some real choices about who they are and whether they will define or be defined by their erev rav.





]]> tag:ouradio.org,2009:/33.60284 2009-10-29T12:44:04+00:00 2009-10-29T14:33:05+00:00

2009-10-29T12:44:04+00:00 On Wednesday, President Obama signed into law Department of Homeland Security appropriations, which included $19 million for nonprofits as part of the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. The NSGP, for which the OU and other coalition partners have worked to secure funding, allocates money to nonprofits for target-hardening projects designed to better protect them against the threat of terror attacks.

The OU applauded this legislation when it passed the House and the Senate, and commends President Obama for swiftly enacting this bill into law.


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2009-10-26T13:03:59+00:00 Please see an Op-Ed now running on JTA (JTA is the "AP Wire" of the Jewish media world) by the OU's Deputy Director of Public Policy, Howie Beigelman, on a public policy agenda that crosses Jewish denominational lines and beyond, finding broad support on security, energy, religious liberty and even within aspects of aid to all schools/students, even private ones.

Read the Op-Ed in its entirety here.


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